Paphos Life

BARCLAYS is set to abandon its expat customers on November 16 by terminating the accounts of anyone without a residential address in the UK.Because of Brexit, the bank will cancel all credit cards of Brits living abroad full time.5 days ago

Barclays to cancel all expat credit cards and account's because of Brexit ...


Rather alarming news, it is not only Barclays banking, many others too.

https://www.google.com/search?client=ms ... 0abgtaxrvs

My Barclays account was cancelled before Brexit had even been voted on.

Barclays closed accounts held in Cyprus & Spain about 2 years ago, so quite why Jim has managed to hold on to his is a mystery!

About a year or more ago Barclays threatened to cut my CC, but I then received a letter saying you can keep it if you can provide a UK address such as perhaps a son or daughter. This I did & still have the CC

Tens of thousands of British expats who live in Europe risk having their UK bank accounts closed 'in weeks' due to post-Brexit rules.

Lloyds, Barclays and Coutts are among a number of UK banks that have starting giving notice to expatriate customers to say they will close their accounts at 11pm on December 31.

The end of the withdrawal agreement makes it a 'bureaucratic nightmare' for UK banks to provide for British customers in the EU post-Brexit, with many simply choosing to pull their services.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... rules.html

From same article:
Two other major UK banks, NatWest and Santander have said that so far, they had no plans to close customer's accounts but are 'considering their options'.

mike strand2 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 20, 2020 6:54 pm Barclays closed accounts held in Cyprus & Spain about 2 years ago, so quite why Jim has managed to hold on to his is a mystery!

About a year or more ago Barclays threatened to cut my CC, but I then received a letter saying you can keep it if you can provide a UK address such as perhaps a son or daughter. This I did & still have the CC

Mike hello, not a mystery I am with Lloyds bank, I am not with Barclays and I do remember there last threat and closers, this time it is about UK & the Euro and UK banking laws, this is a NEW threat and not just Barclays, it could be a real problem if you do not have a UK address, where and how you remove your funds is a serious problem, like many who live on Cyprus we do not have UK property, many of us have pensions paid into a UK bank, maybe some members have ideas what you do in this case Mike..

PS Lloyds bank have not so far contacted me.

This started happening before Brexit. it may have sped up the process but it has been on the cards for some time.

Barclays did this a few years ago, but allowed customers with a large amount of money to keep their accounts. Santander is a Spanish owned bank, so surely you will still be able to use them. They have branches in Brazil, so not being in the EU should not be a problem, let's just wait and see. Always the optimist.

Ive had a savings and cheque account at one of the big four banks in the UK for 63 years.Ive also had and maintained faultlessly a credit card for 41 years in the UK.
Are we saying that because i,ve decided to spend my twilight years in the sun i,m suddenly a RISK!!!
Nah,no one could be that cruel........could they??

U.K. Banks make considerably more from us than the average UK customer.

Ever time I withdraw 400 euros it costs me £10 plus a £1 transaction charge, I pay 2.5% commission every time I use my UK debit card, so the bank (Nationwide) makes hundreds every year.

What would happen if the less fortunate of us decided to return to the UK because of this, the U.K. Could not cope with a sudden large influx of expats.?

Barclays told us several years ago that the decision to close ours (and many others') Bank accounts was purely a business decision.

Alan

Had email response from Transferwise and their borderless account will not be affected by Brexit.
Essentially a UK bank account which can receive pension payments etc and will allow direct debits to be set up. Debit card also with the account. Dont need UK address.

Worth having a look.

Mark wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 11:17 am U.K. Banks make considerably more from us than the average UK customer.

Ever time I withdraw 400 euros it costs me £10 plus a £1 transaction charge, I pay 2.5% commission every time I use my UK debit card, so the bank (Nationwide) makes hundreds every year.

What would happen if the less fortunate of us decided to return to the UK because of this, the U.K. Could not cope with a sudden large influx of expats.?

I have a Nationwide credit card and use it regularly here to pay for goods and services. They convert the amount using the interbank exchange rate of the day & no other charge. However, I would not dream of using it to withdraw cash from an ATM, as you will indeed pay a lot for the privilege. I wait to see whether my Cooperative bank will stop servicing Cyprus customers.

When Barclays closed my friends account a few years back, she transferred to what was then BoC (UK), now renamed Synergy bank. My guess it would be suicide for them to throw out all Cypriot & Expat customers!

Hi Mike

I do not use my CC on withdrawals, I agree the cost would be to high, the charge I referred was for debit card cash withdrawal.

Mark wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 7:04 pm Hi Mike

I do not use my CC on withdrawals, I agree the cost would be to high, the charge I referred was for debit card cash withdrawal.

I don't have a NW debit card, just a Gold CC.

This is what we do, but we still have a Nationwide account as well

on the bbc moneybox podcast for last Saturday, they only named three countries, Spain Nederlands and Belgium, not a mention of other countries.

I have made a few enquiries, just make sure the institution is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or equivalent, depending on which country it is based in.

Do not underestimate the complexity of this situation for the U.K. banks at the present time. I’m from a banking background, albeit not directly retail banking, but still have contacts back in the U.K. one of whom is in one of the most senior positions in retail banking to the extent that they are on the “go to jail list” for compliance and has every phone call made at work recorded for legal reasons. As it stands every U.K. bank will have to obtain a new banking licence to operate with customers located in any of the EU27 nations, and for many of the banks they will have multiple legal entities below their group level, think NatWest Group, Lloyds Banking Group etc (bonus point for remembering Smile is part of Barclays. So they are going out have to decide entity by entity, country by country which ones it make sense to continue with. They will have to keep abreast of the financial legislation in 27 countries and ensure that at all times they and their staff are compliant. The potential fines and unenforceabiltiy of debt are enormous. I’ve seen and heard people talk along the lines of “us expats have so much money with them they would be made to change things”. This is a very naive thought process. The costs associated with all this are very significant, so don’t shoot the messenger for making sweeping generalisations, but I imagine that many of us have no products with them that they actually make any money from. Again a sweeping generalisation, but most of us have probably move abroad to retire, so probably have nor little mortgage debt, little or no credit card debt and no loans to service. Packaged accounts? A loss leader. The actual money made from customers of this nature, as a proportion of customer base is so tiny it would barely register on the balance sheet. The fact that the total numbers of us expats in the EU are spread around so many banks also dilutes the number against any positive numbers.

So things could change an awful lot for us in the next few months, but again it’s possible that some may make the decision to leave things as they are, personally I’ve had one letter and I know that one bank will make the change across all accounts but haven’t gone public. Many will not yet be in a position to give advice to their call centre staff. So best to plan for the worst and hope for the best, unless of course in This crazy year we’ve had, a withdrawal agreement is reached that maintains the current position as far as financial services are concerned. The expect more changes in 2021 and beyond.

Ian

Ian

I think I maybe speak for many others when I say the main worry is, where can ex pats in Cyprus open another account if it turns out to be necessary ??

My UK account is with Nat West International in Guernsey. As this is a separate entity from NW UK, albeit under the same umbrella, I hope they remain international in their customer base.